But it just took a quick glance at the faces of the Team USA members to understand the depth of disappointment in this latest medal-round defeat to Canada. Some anger was certainly visible but, mostly, it was defeated shock that in their biggest game of the Olympics, against their toughest opponent, they didn’t play their best.

Canada 1, Team USA 0 in Friday’s Sochi Games semifinal just as it was Canada 3, Team USA 2 in overtime in the 2010 gold medal game in Vancouver. Team USA’s path to hockey supremacy yet again blocked by its neighbor to the north.

So Sunday’s gold medal game will pit the last two Olympic champions against each other: Canada and top-seeded Sweden, who won at the 2006 Torino Games.

Team USA, which had meshed into a cohesive unit quicker and more effectively than any of the Olympic squads, came into Friday’s semifinal with a tournament-high 20 goals and will go into today’s bronze-medal game against Finland with the same total.

"It seems like we had a tough time sustaining any pressure in their end; they outnumbered us in their zone," said Team USA’s Ryan Callahan in a postgame interview with NBC Sports Network.

It will be a short 22 hours from Friday’s faceoff to today’s faceoff for Team USA, which must shake off this bitter defeat and refocus its energy on the consolation bronze.

It’s not just that Team USA must rediscover its scoring touch, it’s that the Americans must go back to getting traffic to the opponent’s net and creating second- and third-chance opportunities.

Canadian goalie Carey Price stopped 31 shots in his shutout but rarely was forced to scramble to stop rebound shots and, even more rarely, was forced to peer through bodies to see the shot.

Friday’s game was a spectacularly tense goaltenders’ duel between Price and Jonathan Quick.

But that didn’t mask the fact that it was Canada, lackluster in Olympic play prior to Friday despite being unbeaten, which rose to the challenge and elevated its game, dominating much of the even-strength play to spend long stretches in Team USA’s zone.

"We wanted to get pucks behind their [defensemen] and create opportunities that way," Callahan said.

"I thought we did that early on but they defended well."

In fact, one of Team USA’s biggest strengths going into Friday’s game was how well it had developed four lines, whereas Canada had struggled finding chemistry among its All-Star caliber lineup.

But instead of Joe Pavelski’s line with Middletown’s James van Riemsdyk and Maple Leafs teammate Phil Kessel dominating, as it had in previous games, it was Canada’s trio of Ryan Getzlaf centering Ducks’ teammate Corey Perry and Jamie Benn that stood out.

Benn scored the game’s lone goal at 1:41 of the second period, retrieving the puck in the right corner and then getting to the crease to redirect Jay Bouwmeester’s pass disguised as a shot.

Team USA may well get another shot at Canada in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, but there’s no guarantee it will be in an Olympics stocked with NHL players. That, of course, adds to the frustration.

Instead of these players potentially becoming to the next generation what the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" squad became to future NHLers such as Mike Modano, Brian Leetch or Mike Richter, Team USA was left to praise Canada as being the best team it faced in the Olympics.

"Yeah it is," Callahan said. "There’s no question they’re a talented group and you see the skill they have and how they play. It’s a tough one to take."

Losses are an occupational annoyance for professional athletes, who must succeed amid the failures.

But it just took a quick glance at the faces of the Team USA members to understand the depth of disappointment in this latest medal-round defeat to Canada. Some anger was certainly visible but, mostly, it was defeated shock that in their biggest game of the Olympics, against their toughest opponent, they didn’t play their best.

Canada 1, Team USA 0 in Friday’s Sochi Games semifinal just as it was Canada 3, Team USA 2 in overtime in the 2010 gold medal game in Vancouver. Team USA’s path to hockey supremacy yet again blocked by its neighbor to the north.

So Sunday’s gold medal game will pit the last two Olympic champions against each other: Canada and top-seeded Sweden, who won at the 2006 Torino Games.

Team USA, which had meshed into a cohesive unit quicker and more effectively than any of the Olympic squads, came into Friday’s semifinal with a tournament-high 20 goals and will go into today’s bronze-medal game against Finland with the same total.

"It seems like we had a tough time sustaining any pressure in their end; they outnumbered us in their zone," said Team USA’s Ryan Callahan in a postgame interview with NBC Sports Network.

It will be a short 22 hours from Friday’s faceoff to today’s faceoff for Team USA, which must shake off this bitter defeat and refocus its energy on the consolation bronze.

It’s not just that Team USA must rediscover its scoring touch, it’s that the Americans must go back to getting traffic to the opponent’s net and creating second- and third-chance opportunities.

Canadian goalie Carey Price stopped 31 shots in his shutout but rarely was forced to scramble to stop rebound shots and, even more rarely, was forced to peer through bodies to see the shot.

Friday’s game was a spectacularly tense goaltenders’ duel between Price and Jonathan Quick.

But that didn’t mask the fact that it was Canada, lackluster in Olympic play prior to Friday despite being unbeaten, which rose to the challenge and elevated its game, dominating much of the even-strength play to spend long stretches in Team USA’s zone.

"We wanted to get pucks behind their [defensemen] and create opportunities that way," Callahan said.

"I thought we did that early on but they defended well."

In fact, one of Team USA’s biggest strengths going into Friday’s game was how well it had developed four lines, whereas Canada had struggled finding chemistry among its All-Star caliber lineup.

But instead of Joe Pavelski’s line with Middletown’s James van Riemsdyk and Maple Leafs teammate Phil Kessel dominating, as it had in previous games, it was Canada’s trio of Ryan Getzlaf centering Ducks’ teammate Corey Perry and Jamie Benn that stood out.

Benn scored the game’s lone goal at 1:41 of the second period, retrieving the puck in the right corner and then getting to the crease to redirect Jay Bouwmeester’s pass disguised as a shot.

Team USA may well get another shot at Canada in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, but there’s no guarantee it will be in an Olympics stocked with NHL players. That, of course, adds to the frustration.

Instead of these players potentially becoming to the next generation what the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" squad became to future NHLers such as Mike Modano, Brian Leetch or Mike Richter, Team USA was left to praise Canada as being the best team it faced in the Olympics.

"Yeah it is," Callahan said. "There’s no question they’re a talented group and you see the skill they have and how they play. It’s a tough one to take."